Back in June at one of our craft beer chats and tastings at the Wynkoop, Branden Miller of Black Shirt Brewing shared the brewery’s plans to add brewing equipment and expand. That moment has arrived. The RiNo red ale specialists are getting ready to start using a freshly delivered 15-barrel brewhouse and six 30-barrel fermenters, upgrading from their original 4-barrel system. Also hiding in the back: a canning line from Boulder-based Wild Goose Canning. That’s right, Black Shirt beer is coming to cans. Co-owner Chad Miller said to expect red ale, red IPA, red porter and red saison to hit liquor stores in early or mid December.

The fiercely independent brewery continues to turn away investors, Miller said. “Weekly people come here and want to invest,” said Miller, who was able to ditch his day job in collision repair recently. “It’s not our thing, it’s never been our thing and it never will be.” At that same beer chat last summer, Prost Brewing’s Bill Eye voiced concerns about a rush-to-can from start-up breweries. We’ve had a mixed experience with newly canned beer from small local breweries, finding a few to be under-filled or gushers. That is unlikely to be the case with the perfectionists at Black Shirt.

Colorado and Florida collaborate in New Belgium’s Lips of Faith series (provided by New Belgium).

– You can’t find Tampa’s Cigar City beers for sale around here (unless it’s GABF week), which makes one of the latest installments of the New Belgium Brewing Lips of Faith series all the more intriguing. The Cigar City + New Belgium Collaboration Ale beer is brewed with an unusual mix of hops – Cascade, Pacific Jade and Wakatu – Anaheim and Marash chilies, Spanish Cedar spirals and a Bier de Garde yeast (8.5 percent alcohol by volume), the brewery says. New Belgium is also releasing Wild2 Dubbel, made with Brettanomyces and Schisandra, “known as the five flavored fruit,” according to New Belgium.

– Aspen Brewing Company beers will be distributed state-wide through Tivoli Distributing Co., the two businesses announced Thursday. Expect to see the brewery’s Independence Pass Ale (IPA), This Season’s Blonde and Conundrum Red at local liquor stores in the next week. The Denver-based distributor has made a niche of picking up small Colorado breweries outside those breweries’ home territories. Along with its own contract-brewed beer, Tivoli’s portfolio includes Grimm Brothers Brewhouse in Loveland, Backcountry Brewery in Frisco, Crabtree Brewing of Greeley, Pateros Creek Brewing in Fort Collins and Hardtail Brewing in Johnstown.

Left Hand has a hit with its “Fade to Black” series (provided by the brewery).

– Fresh off an outstanding showing in the Great American Beer Festival competition, Left Hand Brewing has released Volume 5 in its Fade to Black winter seasonal series. This one is a black rye ale the brewery describes as a deep dark brown ale with aromas of dark coffee and maplewood. Longmont-based Left Hand is also putting out a variety 12-pack featuring volumes 1-4. Volume 1, a foreign-style stout, has won two GABF gold medals, most recently as part of that haul earlier this month.

– Small Batch Liquors on Denver’s Tennyson Street, the first store to be featured in our Better Know a Bottle Shop series, no longer hides its well-curated craft beer collection in a back room. Owner Joe Tumbarello has added a wall and a half of refrigeration up front for his growing selection of bombers and 750-ml bottles, and canned craft beer. Was it the First Drafts bump? As of last weekend you could find beers from a couple of breweries normally unavailable here – Sun King and Oakshire.

– Chicago-based Goose Island is likely to capture the attention of beer geeks with two new barrel-aged farmhouse ales being released alongside its 2013 vintages of the sour ales Lolita and Juliet. Gillian (9.5 percent ABV) is described as being partially aged in wine barrels with strawberries, honey and white pepper; Halia (7.5 percent ABV) was aged in white wine barrels with fresh peaches from a Michigan family farm. Goose Island is part of Anheuser-Busch InBev and some of its more widely available beers are brewed in Fort Collins.

– We meant to mention this earlier – it got lost in the buildup to GABF – but the much-lauded beers of San-Diego based AleSmith are now available in the Denver market. Their arrival had been long rumored. AleSmith draws inspiration from classic beer styles of Britain and Belgium. “Every beer AleSmith makes is very true to style, and everything they make is very good,” said Mondo Vino beer buyer Mathew Berger. “Whether it’s a 5 percent ABV ESB or 14 percent imperial stout, they’re just always well-made.”

– Boulder-based Avery Brewing Company announced it is resuming distribution in Oklahoma. The brewery pulled out of the Sooner State in April 2011 because it could not meet demand in Colorado at the time, it said.

– Finally, a fitting tapping for Halloween … Bull & Bush is treating visitors to a release of Release the Hounds, which won GABF bronze in the barleywine category.

Our new iPad app serves as a guide to metro Denver’s bountiful breweries, beer bars and bottle shops, the holy trinity of craft beer enjoyment for followers and fans. Download the app for iPad .
Next time you head for a beer in Boulder, don’t forget your friend, Beers of Boulder and Boulder County, an iPad app from the Daily Camera. Download the app for iPad .

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In Colorado, our pint glasses overflow with excellent beer. New breweries, new batches, festivals every other week. How lucky are we? First Drafts is The Denver Post's beer blog aimed at helping you keep tabs on the state's ever-expanding craft beer culture. We offer a mash of news, event coverage, homegrown stories, tasting notes and tips to help you imbibe. Expert drinker or homebrewer? Let us know what you're loving about Colorado's beer scene. Not sure exactly what a firkin is? No worries, let us be your guide. Go ahead. Belly up and drink it in!